Sleep Rebellion (U.S.) for Heavy Prog

Sleep Rebellion’s debut album, Empire of Lies, is an epic concept that ties into a sci-fi short story of the same name, written by the band’s principle songwriter, Chris McGraw. Each song follows a chapter in the short story and focuses on a different theme related to liberty, tyranny and revolution. Featuring powerful and virtuosic performances by vocalist/guitarist Chris McGraw and drummer Randy Hart, the album’s style ranges from radio-ready hard rock to otherworldly instrumental prog mayhem.

The album’s concept is inspired by science fiction novelists like Robert Heinlein, J. Neil Schulman and L. Neil Smith, as well as by progressive rock acts like Rush and Pink Floyd. The production was entirely crowdfunded during the summer of 2013, and recording commenced at the famous Portland, Oregon studio Kung Fu Bakery in October that year.

The opening track of the album refrains that, “Truth is treason in the Empire of Lies.” Sleep Rebellion wants to wake people up, and committing treason is their chosen method. If you feel it’s time for a revolution, pick up Empire of Lies today!" http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?457174-Empire-of-Lies-the-libertarian-rock-album-by-Sleep-Rebellion-is-finally-out!

Edited by Svetonio - August 14 2014 at 02:43

yam yam wrote: Yes, I enjoyed this album a lot.  Not sure that I would see them entirely as a Heavy Prog candidate though. Some aspects of the music are certainly that way inclined, but the album as a whole blends elements of hard rock, pop, metal, and electronica, and that seems more like a recipe for Crossover to me. Thanos will be a far better judge than myself on these matters though, so let's see what his verdict is later on.

Thank you Yam Yam! Actually, Crossover was my first opinion, but on the second listen, I decided to suggest them for Heavy Prog. Well, as you said, it's on Thanos now

Edited by Svetonio - August 14 2014 at 07:12

Thank you aapatsos.

Welcome to progarchives Chris.   You can check up on how things are proceeding by following this link: http://progfreak.com/Sleep-Rebellion-159557.html?path=pa/recent. The votes will appear in this chart as they are cast by the evaluation team(s). So far just one 'unsure' vote - that's 'unsure' for Heavy Prog - not 'unsure' for inclusion in PA at all.

Edited by yam yam - August 28 2014 at 06:46

The evaluation in Heavy Prog ultimately ended in an outright rejection, despite one member of the three-man team voting 'yes' and another voting 'move' (probably to Crossover). I don't have access to the team thread in the collab zone where any comments regarding the evaluation would have been posted, so I can't speculate why you weren't given a chance in Crossover (which is where I personally thought you would fit best anyway). I can only assume that it was eventually considered that there wasn't enough prog content in the album for this to happen, but maybe one of the Heavy Prog team members reading this could clear the matter up properly for us.

Edited by yam yam - December 29 2016 at 18:23

Thanks Louis.  

Sleep Rebellion added to Crossover here